Welcome back from Thanksgiving!  I hope you and your families all had a restful and fun break from school.  While not everyone participated in making hats and videos, I hope you checked on SeeSaw to see the I’m Thankful videos we shared before break.

 We finished up our Simple Machines unit with trying to help a friend get a toy out of a tree like the character in the book Stuck.  We made some great machines to solve the problem, from fire trucks with ladders to our very own pulleys.   We may have finished the unit but the conversations continue – just this week I overheard students talking about pulleys and then we used wedges to cut up vegetables for our Healthy Learning Paths lesson Ava Avocado.  We had a lot of fun cutting up vegetables, mashing avocados, and stirring the ingredients to make our very own guacamole.  We discovered that guacamole tastes even better if you help make it.  Per student request, I’ll shre the recipe:  2 avocados, 1 diced plum tomato, 1/2 lime, juiced.  (Adults may wish to add 2 cloves of garlic.)  Mash the avocado flesh in a bowl then mix all other ingredients.  Now enjoy with fresh veggies! Next week we’ll have our final lesson with Ms. Mercedes for Healthy Learning Paths.  We’ll be sad to say goodbye but our time together will be fun – the lesson is called Let’s Play:  Exercise and Hydration.  We will be moving around a lot so please be sure your child is in comfortable clothes and wearing exercise shoes on Monday and Thursday. We began our new STEM unit on Recycling this week.  We started by talking about what is trash and where does it go.  Next we’ll discuss what happens when there is too much or trash or it isn’t properly disposed.  We’ll be talking gently about how litter is very dangerous for animals and, weather permitting, will go on a litter hunt around the school grounds, tracking how much we find.  If the weather doesn’t cooperate we may have a ‘litter fairy’ visit the room while we are outside one day so be prepared for some interesting stories! As part of this unit we will be looking at creating art out of recycled items.  If you have some interesting cardboard pieces, fabric scraps, or even toilet paper/paper towel rolls, we’d love to have them.  Leftover bits of wrapping paper and ribbon would also be wonderful both now and after the holidays.  A final request – if you have leftover party invitations or cards (not religious ones though), our classes love to write messages to friends. Upcoming/ongoing activities include: 

• PBIS parachute party for all 3 classes this Thursday and Friday,  
• Exploration of recyclable items,
• Book and PJ drive
• Winter party the last day before break.

As always, thank you for sharing your children with us.  They always make Ms. Tawna and I smile. Sincerely, Ms. Kiersten